


Queen Snowdrop

by tiger9in1



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fluff, LITERALLY, Sad, Stuffed Toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25461442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiger9in1/pseuds/tiger9in1





	Queen Snowdrop

Queen Snowdrop

Snowdrop sat posed on the family room couch, as still as the vase on the mantelpiece. Only a slight twitch in her tail betrayed her inner excitement. For this was the day, the day every stuffed animal dreamed about from the time they were made; the day they would be loved by a child.

Everyone had heard the stories; the kitten with large blue eyes whose girl was so charmed she refused to leave without him; the rainbow teddy bear whose boy spotted him from the other side of the store. Snowdrop personally thought that was an exaggeration, but one thing was clear: to be adopted, you had to be noticed first. And that had never been her problem. She was by far the largest toy in the store, larger than some of the children. Her bright white fur also stood out. No one who walked by could resist saying, “Oh, what a beautiful white tiger!” And one special old lady said, “Well I declare, that tiger’s whiter than a snowdrop!” And in that moment, Snowdrop had her name. 

But no one had bought her. Many kids had stopped to admire and to pet her, but never once had anyone taken her home. Even the ones who wanted her were told a flat-out “No!” by their parents, followed by the arguments, “It’s too expensive!” or “We don’t have room for that thing!” 

After several years of this, Snowdrop began to fear that her size, which she had always been proud of, was really more of a hindrance. 

That had changed a week ago. A small middle-aged woman had walked by Snowdrop’s place on the shelf, and gasped. 

“Wow, that’s the biggest tiger I’ve ever seen! Honey, come look!” A tall black-haired man looked, and nodded. 

“It sure is a big one!”

“Do you think she’ll like it?” asked the woman. 

“Of course she will,” said the man. “You know how crazy she is about tigers.”

“Then let’s get it,” said the woman. “It will be a great surprise for her when she gets home.”

And so this couple bought Snowdrop and took her home with them. From their conversation, she learned several things; they had bought her for their daughter Katie, who was nine years old and loved animals, especially tigers. When she came home from camp, they would give her Snowdrop as a surprise.

Katie was due home this morning. They set her on the family room couch, out of sight of the door. Katie would have to come across the hall and down the stairs to see Snowdrop, so it was the perfect place for a surprise. Snowdrop waited in eager anticipation, posing in her most relaxed, most regal posture; sure that Katie would adore her. 

Her stuffed heart leaped when she heard the door open, and then voices. 

“… But Mom, where’s Kara?” cried the voice of a young girl.

“I don’t know, Katie,” said her mother. “Didn’t you take her with you to camp?”

“I thought I did, but now I can’t find her!” wailed Katie.

“Well, maybe she’s in the car somewhere. Take your things upstairs and we’ll look for her.”

The door opened and shut, followed by the pounding of feet. Snowdrop wondered who Kara was, but put it aside. ‘She’ll be so happy to see me, it won’t matter,’ she thought.

Snowdrop watched the clock on the mantel. Seconds ticked by, than minutes. An hour. Two hours. The shadows crept across the floor as she waited. She heard distant shuffling and rattling from upstairs, but the living room remained silent. 

At sunset, she heard Mom’s voice calling upstairs for Katie. “We’ve got a surprise for you,” she said. Katie came thumping down the stairs a minute later. “Kara?” she asked eagerly. 

The next second she stood in the family room, staring straight at Snowdrop. She was a small, lovely girl with beautiful brown hair and a sparkle in her blue eyes. But the instant she saw Snowdrop the sparkle faded, her beautiful eyes burst into tears, and she ran crying back up the stairs.

At first Snowdrop was too shocked to react. But then thoughts and emotions raced through her mind, first among them was utter dejection. ‘She doesn’t want me! She doesn’t want me!’ In that split second, all of Snowdrop’s hopes and dreams had been shattered. ‘What did I do?’ And most poignant of all was why? ‘Why was I not enough for her?’ ‘She thought I was Kara, that’s why’, she thought bitterly. She thought her parents had found Kara. Who is this Kara anyway? 

A few more hours passed. Eventually Katie came back downstairs, accompanied by her parents. She seemed calm, but her eyes were red from crying. She came over to Snowdrop and hugged her, turning to look at her parents. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Thank you for getting this for me. It was really nice of you.” She hugged her parents too. 

“We knew you liked tigers,” said her mother.

“I do, and I like her a lot. She’s so big. I’ve never seen one that big before.”

“Do you want to name her?”

“Yes. How about Snowy?”

Her father smiled. “Because she’s white? Don’t you want something more original? She is unusual, after all.”

Snowdrop agreed. Half the white animals she’d seen in the store had names like Snowy.

Katie thought a minute. “Well then, how about Snowdrop? Queen Snowdrop?”

“She looks like a queen, all right.” Her mother laughed.

“So she does,” said Katie. “Queen Snowdrop it is, then.”

*****

Later Snowdrop was moved to Katie’s room, where she hung at the bottom of a net of stuffed animals. Though still upset, she was proud that Katie had named her Queen Snowdrop! A fine name for a ruler, especially one as dignified as Snowdrop.

In time, Snowdrop met all the stuffed animals, and grew to love and protect the smaller ones. But the one she talked to the most was Sleepy Bear, who had been Katie’s favorite when she was small. And Sleepy Bear knew the story of Kara very well. Two years ago, at Christmas time, Katie asked Santa for “the most special kitten in the world.” That year, Kara was peeping from the top of Katie’s stocking. It was love at first sight. For the next few years, they were inseparable. Katie took Kara everywhere she went, and loved her like no other. 

“Not even you?” asked Snowdrop.

Sleepy Bear shrugged. “She loved me, and I’m sure she still does. But she doesn’t need me anymore. Children change their minds all the time. They love something one day, and ignore it the next. But some are special, ones they never forget. I’m one of them. It doesn’t matter if she never looks at me again.”

“How do you know you’re special?”

“That’s something only Katie can decide. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, because she has so many of us, and hates to leave anyone out. But there is a way; if she gives you something she loves, or if she turns to you for comfort when she’s sad, that is when you know you’re special.”  
“She doesn’t do that for everyone?”

“No. She remembers many, but has truly loved only a handful of us. That love, that true love, is the highest honor you can have.”

*****

The years passed quickly, and soon Katie would go off to college. She packed up many of her things, including a few stuffed animals. As she glanced around at them all, she smiled. “Mom, can I take Queen Snowdrop with me?”

Her mom was surprised. “Are you sure? College dorms are pretty small.”

“It’ll be fine. I told my roommate about her, and she said it was all right.”

“Okay. You can take her, if you wish.”

As Queen Snowdrop was added to the top of the pile, she thought she heard Sleepy Bear whisper, “Good luck.”

The hustle and bustle of packing was a blur to Queen Snowdrop, who could only remember being placed on the bed with several other stuffed animals. But eventually Katie’s parents left. When she got ready for bed, she couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned for an hour after the lights went off, and finally she started crying. “Mom,” she sobbed quietly. “I miss Mom.” Then she sat up. Her hand hovered in the air for a few moments before it settled on Queen Snowdrop. Katie pulled her out of the pile of stuffed toys and pulled her under the blankets, crying and snuggling close to her. “You’re very warm,” she whispered. Eventually her breathing slowed to a gentle sigh as she cuddled Queen Snowdrop.  
Queen Snowdrop glowed from her blue eyes to the tip of her tail. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t be carried around. It wouldn’t even matter if Katie did not notice her again. All that mattered was Katie loved her now, for this brief shining moment. And in the darkness of the night, it dawned on Queen Snowdrop that she loved Katie, too. At that moment, everything seemed worth it, all of it. As she thought this, Queen Snowdrop snuggled into Katie’s arms and for the first time in her life, fell asleep.


End file.
